Early this past week, we unexpectedly lost my husband's younger brother. As you know, when this kind of thing happens, there is difficulty processing the event, and we stumble while trying to overcome the pure shock of it all.
This younger brother was my husband's last remaining sibling. Although he was several inches taller and quite a few pounds heavier, he was always his little brother . . . a somewhat ridiculous statement when you saw them side by side.
As we family members connect and reminisce, there has been love, laughter and lots of happy memories directed at the man we just lost. Lots of good stories have been shared which seem to have helped with the healing.
He was a good husband, father, grandfather and friend to a great many. He perfected the art of putting the positive spin on most everything in life. He laughed a lot, often at himself, and as my husband said, because of his kindness, generosity and natural outgoing friendliness, he never knew anyone who disliked him.
"Our family is getting so small," our daughter said quietly and sadly a day or so ago. Yes, and now her uncle's passing has left a big hole in it.
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Mother Nature Says, "Take That!"
Ha! Methinks I may have been too vocal about
our "spring time" temperatures
in my blog post yesterday.
Last night's low? Three degrees.
Okay. That's more like our typical
January thermometer readings.
High for today?
Eleven degrees.
Tomorrow?
High of twenty-six degrees
with a 70% chance of snow.
Yay, yay, yay!
Need rain? Sunshine?
Want snow? Higher temps?
Just give me a call.
Apparently I can summon up
whatever you want just by being cranky.
Saturday, January 24, 2015
Drip, Drip, Drip
Just to add to our already strange winter weather, we are now experiencing a genuine January thaw.
This caricature would be applicable today . . . except for the fact that we haven't had enough snow to construct a single snowman yet this winter season.
While those of you on the East Coast have already had or are bracing for a significant snowfall, the piddling little amount we've had on the ground continues to melt away.
Overnight temperatures were above freezing (again) and my poor garden beds are once again bare and shivering in the extreme dampness. We humans almost have to put on more clothing to go out in this weather in order to be comfortable than we did when the temp was below zero. It's that darn dampness that gets ya.
On the positive side, we've not been going through much of our wood supply in the last couple of weeks, and if this snowless winter continues we may have an early spring for getting a jump start on the garden.
Plans for today are to put in some more time on the never-ending sorting/cleaning/organizing job in the unheated loft/attic. And I must be honest and admit it does feel better working up there in 35 degree weather than when it was below zero. Still with jackets, hats and gloves on, of course.
Happy weekend to all of you!
This caricature would be applicable today . . . except for the fact that we haven't had enough snow to construct a single snowman yet this winter season.
While those of you on the East Coast have already had or are bracing for a significant snowfall, the piddling little amount we've had on the ground continues to melt away.
Overnight temperatures were above freezing (again) and my poor garden beds are once again bare and shivering in the extreme dampness. We humans almost have to put on more clothing to go out in this weather in order to be comfortable than we did when the temp was below zero. It's that darn dampness that gets ya.
On the positive side, we've not been going through much of our wood supply in the last couple of weeks, and if this snowless winter continues we may have an early spring for getting a jump start on the garden.
Plans for today are to put in some more time on the never-ending sorting/cleaning/organizing job in the unheated loft/attic. And I must be honest and admit it does feel better working up there in 35 degree weather than when it was below zero. Still with jackets, hats and gloves on, of course.
Happy weekend to all of you!
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
We're Kinda Wild and Crazy
Here's a visual of the raucous night life at our house these winter evenings.
Papa Pea is totally involved in reading, research and going through old files.
I'm immersed in yarns, needles, crochet hooks and back issues of quilting magazines that were thrown in a stack unread all last summer.
There's always an open fire in the wood stove.
Sometimes the radio is tuned to our Minnesota Public Radio station. Occasionally a bottle of beer or glass of wine will be present, but the jaw cracking yawns never fail to start occurring around 8:30 p.m. After that it's a struggle to remain upright for more than an hour or so.
Good thing we don't have neighbors close enough to be disturbed by the unbridled revelry, eh?
Papa Pea is totally involved in reading, research and going through old files.
I'm immersed in yarns, needles, crochet hooks and back issues of quilting magazines that were thrown in a stack unread all last summer.
There's always an open fire in the wood stove.
Sometimes the radio is tuned to our Minnesota Public Radio station. Occasionally a bottle of beer or glass of wine will be present, but the jaw cracking yawns never fail to start occurring around 8:30 p.m. After that it's a struggle to remain upright for more than an hour or so.
Good thing we don't have neighbors close enough to be disturbed by the unbridled revelry, eh?
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Why Did I Stop?
There was a time when my calendar was full of notations of peoples' birthdays and anniversaries. Each month I'd send out at least three, if not several more, cards commemorating these special occasions.
And then I stopped.
Why?
Up until the last few years of her life, my mom made a practice of keeping track of birthdays and anniversaries of everyone in our very large extended family plus those of many people she knew. She wrote out cards and mailed them so they would arrive on each person's special day. The birthday cards for little people always contained a two dollar bill, back in the days when there were two dollar bills. I can remember often hearing how much those cards meant to the recipients. Even to the big people whose cards didn't contain any money!
In my defense, I think I started slacking off on this practice when cards became so darn expensive. Not much of an excuse when you think of it.
I could have switched to using a piece of paper folded in half with the proper greeting written on the outside and a little note inside. That would have served the same purpose. It's the thought that counts, right?
Even now for the people I do send greetings to, it's almost always via e-mail rather than through the U.S. Mail. But that's just not the same, is it? Who saves an e-mail in a special box in their bottom drawer the way you would a card or handwritten note?
Note to self: It's time to re-start this custom of remembering and thinking of folks on special occasions, Mama Pea. Stop being lazy or falsely blaming it on a small expense.
No, I don't think I'll go back to stalking the card racks in the store, but I am going to start writing little notes so people will know I'm thinking of them.
We are all such a scattered group of family members and friends. The mobility of our society has put sometimes hundreds, if not thousands, of miles between us and the people we care about. Keeping a connection strong by the act of taking time to communicate the old-fashioned way on special occasions, using the mail service (or snail mail as we all refer to it now) is something I want to make a real effort to start again.
I know I certainly get a special feeling when I retrieve mail from our mailbox and find an envelope addressed to me with a return address of someone I care for.
Yep, time to fill in those names and dates on the calendar again, put pen to paper, perhaps even make a hokey handmade card, and let people know I'm thinking of them.
And then I stopped.
Why?
Up until the last few years of her life, my mom made a practice of keeping track of birthdays and anniversaries of everyone in our very large extended family plus those of many people she knew. She wrote out cards and mailed them so they would arrive on each person's special day. The birthday cards for little people always contained a two dollar bill, back in the days when there were two dollar bills. I can remember often hearing how much those cards meant to the recipients. Even to the big people whose cards didn't contain any money!
In my defense, I think I started slacking off on this practice when cards became so darn expensive. Not much of an excuse when you think of it.
I could have switched to using a piece of paper folded in half with the proper greeting written on the outside and a little note inside. That would have served the same purpose. It's the thought that counts, right?
Even now for the people I do send greetings to, it's almost always via e-mail rather than through the U.S. Mail. But that's just not the same, is it? Who saves an e-mail in a special box in their bottom drawer the way you would a card or handwritten note?
Note to self: It's time to re-start this custom of remembering and thinking of folks on special occasions, Mama Pea. Stop being lazy or falsely blaming it on a small expense.
No, I don't think I'll go back to stalking the card racks in the store, but I am going to start writing little notes so people will know I'm thinking of them.
We are all such a scattered group of family members and friends. The mobility of our society has put sometimes hundreds, if not thousands, of miles between us and the people we care about. Keeping a connection strong by the act of taking time to communicate the old-fashioned way on special occasions, using the mail service (or snail mail as we all refer to it now) is something I want to make a real effort to start again.
I know I certainly get a special feeling when I retrieve mail from our mailbox and find an envelope addressed to me with a return address of someone I care for.
Yep, time to fill in those names and dates on the calendar again, put pen to paper, perhaps even make a hokey handmade card, and let people know I'm thinking of them.
Monday, January 19, 2015
Make Sure Brain Is In Gear . . .
. . . before operating heavy machinery.
Or washing machines.
Went to start my third load of laundry this morning,
poured in the homemade liquid laundry soap
my dear daughter
keeps me supplied with.
And then noticed
I had poured the soap right on top
of the last finished load in the washer
which I had failed to remove.
Sigh.
Well, that batch of light colored clothes
will be clean this week!
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